Synopsis

A documentary about Kiwi survivors of the RAF’s Bomber Command in WWII and the impact that experience continues to have on lives today, not only in New Zealand, but also in Germany, Britain, Belgium and Canada. Pō ki te Pō – Night after Night – Jede Nacht wieder is a tribute to their memory and honours all members of the aircrews, Kiwi and German, who risked their lives to fight day and night to protect everything they held dear, the security and safety of home, family, friends, neighbours. Six hundred thousand German civilians — men, women and children — were killed in allied bombing raids.

Fifty five thousand men died while serving as bomber crews in World War II, including 1850 New Zealanders. 1 in 3 Kiwis gave their lives. The stories told in Pō ki te Pō – Night after Night – Jede Nacht wieder are from the remaining survivors of Bomber Command’s battles. Most are in their late eighties or nineties now and many have never talked about the years they spent at war with an enemy they never knew. Back home they were told it was better to ‘forget the past and get on with life’ and though many tried, the horror endured.

This film, which takes its title from Max Lambert’s book, documents the acceptance by both the Allied Forces and the Germans, of the futility of war.